Mike’s Dauin Beach Resort
Where are they now
360
Resident green turtles, by the project’s estimate
161
Turtles identified for the first time
1,598
Encounters logged
12
Survey zones mapped
At a glance
Grantee
Mike’s Dauin Beach Resort
Project
Project Pawikan
Where
Dauin, Negros Oriental, Philippines
Program
Vulnerable Marine Species
Grant
2023 Community Grant
Follow
Grant results · Philippines · 2023–2025
Dauin’s turtles have been here for decades. Now there’s proof.
Picture Dauin’s seagrass beds protected because the people who make the decisions know exactly who lives there. Project Pawikan has put that evidence in their hands.
Dauin’s 13-kilometer coastline is lined with seagrass, and green turtles feed there. The turtles graze a few favorite seagrasses by day and rest on the coral reefs nearby, and Dauin has both. Its marine sanctuaries have protected the reefs since 2006. Most of the seagrass sits outside them, so it takes the brunt of careless fishing, plastic and farm runoff. Nets strung across the shallows add to the risk.
Mike’s Dauin Beach Resort, a PADI 5 Star Resort and one of the first dive operations in Dauin, started Project Pawikan (pawikan means sea turtle in the local dialect) to find out how many turtles depend on that seagrass, and to get them recognized.
From February 2024 to June 2025, the team surveyed 12 zones along the coast on freedives and scuba, using underwater scooters to cover more ground. Every turtle’s markings are its own, so pattern-recognition software matched each photo to an individual. They logged 1,598 encounters, and on one survey at Kagamas counted 47 green turtles.
The answer: an estimated 360 green turtles, one of the largest populations recorded in the Philippines. Three in four were seen more than once, and almost all of those stayed in the same small patch of coast. Dauin’s turtles aren’t passing through. They live here, all year round.
Divers and long-time residents helped prove it. Hundreds of sightings came in through the project’s Facebook page, and 12 new turtles were found and named by them. Old photos from 2007 and 2008 matched two green turtles still swimming off Dauin in 2021 and 2024, and half of the turtles seen more than once had first been recorded at least four years earlier, many in exactly the same spot.
“Encountering them is like a visit with old friends, and we are honoured to share their home.”
Jonathan Anderson, Project Pawikan Officer, Mike’s Dauin Beach Resort
Then and now
2023
PADI AWARE awards Mike’s Dauin Beach Resort a community grant for Project Pawikan.
February 2024
Surveys begin along Dauin’s 13-kilometer coast.
June 2025
A full year of data. Findings presented to Marine Conservation Philippines and a public gathering in Dauin.
Next
A zone-by-zone case to the Dauin Municipality for protecting the seagrass the turtles call home.
The project has shared tools and guidance so other groups can run their own turtle surveys, and divers can keep sending sightings to the Project Pawikan Facebook group. The local tally now stands at 502 green and 30 hawksbill turtles since records began in 2017. The project’s turtle health records also helped University of the Philippines researchers develop water tests for a virus that affects turtles.
PADI AWARE community grants of up to US$10,000 go to PADI Dive Centers and community-based non-profits with an operating budget under US$1 million. Projects are judged on conservation need and community support, and the next round opens in 2027. The next local project is waiting on you.
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